Lancaster County Schools hold emergency meeting for complaint against board member

LANCASTER, S.C. (WBTV) - Lancaster County Schools held an emergency meeting Thursday morning and it ended with them moving to hire a lawyer to conduct an investigation.

The school board wants to investigate a claim of a hostile work environment against school board member Melvin Stroble.

The board says this has never happened in school board history so it is hiring an outside source to investigate and also set a precedent for any future complaints.

The complaint against Stroble comes from the district’s CFO Jennifer White.

Multiple people have confirmed to WBTV that the complaint is about the board member creating a hostile work environment for White during a board meeting.

The referenced board meeting happened back in February where Stroble can be seen questioning White about the district’s finances.

In Thursday’s special called meeting, the board members, including Stroble, decided to hire the law firm to review the employee complaint.

Stroble believes this will keep the process fair for everyone involved.

“The sooner we can get to the bottom of it I think everyone will be able to move forward and return to some semblance of normal board operations,” Stroble said.

There’s no telling how long this investigation could last. We will continue investigating and report any details that come out of it.

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